Aftermath of A Last Breath
by BeauteousCupcake
Summary: Bonnie's ghost is trapped and unable to cross the veil and she's left stranded and uncertain among those she loved and fought for. Uncertain as to just why she's in the Salvatore boarding house of all places, she watches Damon fall apart... but why is he like that over her?
1. Chapter 1

-chapter one-

Damon Salvatore was the last person she thought she would see on the floor of his home with his head in his hands with tears resting on his dark lashes. The vampire's face rose momentarily as Elena flew in crying over Bonnie but she couldn't see Bonnie no one could but Jeremy. Oh the irony that her ex-boyfriend and brother of the doppelgänger who was trying to calm Damon without success wasn't lost on Bonnie. As her viridian hues locked with azure even as Damon stared through the space she was curled up in and his dark hair brushed his neck as his head shook back and forth in denial of the harsh reality.

_"You're crying over a girl you tried to kill remember Elena?_

_You tried to tear her apart for what? Being the one damn girl who cared enough for you and your friends, our friends to give up her life! She shouldn't be dead no one should be dead. All these years we've been here I should have taken my brother and run, leaving you all, saving you all from this! If Stefan and I had never come, none of this would have happened. It's my fault, I should have known, after Augustine, after Lexi, I am a curse to anyone I let close to me."_

The bottle that lay half empty between cotton clad legs was in his hands and shattering across the room within the blink of an eye. As the delicate veins filtered around the cobalt orbs of the elder Salvatore and she shook with surprise. Bonnie hadn't expected that reaction from him over her death to be so angry and lost looking they'd been fighting against each other and the beliefs both Damon and Bonnie had in regards to what and who they were. Regret flowed through Bonnie as she stood and watched the supposedly happy couple glaring at one another with hate in their eyes, she couldn't understand it, Damon had loved Elena for so long and it was clear to Bonnie now that her friend had loved him too - longer than she had even realized so why now, when they could be happy together? Why were they like this. Bonnie swore silently for what it was worth now that her death wouldn't, no couldn't be the reason they were like this.

_"Get out."_

The vehemence in Damon's voice reminded Bonnie of when he had turned on Katherine and the frustration in his tone the same as when Stefan had infuriated him and sent him into the cellar to clear his head. This time though, it was Damon who needed the clarity, his cobalt hues were tinted red from tears, his normal pristine appearance in dishevelment as he stood rocking on his heels before walking to where she sat. His hand moving the leather jacket to one side to show the soft material of the jacket she had worn, the one that had dirt all over it from her fall to the ground as her last breath had left Bonnie. Damon had her jacket. Bonnie watched as he held the fabric in his hands, his eyes closing and jaw tighten in anger and her eyes widened in amazement as she saw Damon lift the fabric to his face  
and an agonized cry fall from his lips.

_"I told you to be careful so many times and you never listened, never once use an element of selfishness to protect yourself Judgey! What am I supposed to do with no one to tease, no one to try to burn me with their wit and sarcasm, to bring me the clarity the others lack when I'm too damn scared to say I'm afraid we can't win. Wh-what am I going to do to without you Bonnie?"_

The look on Bonnie's face at his broken despair was one that no one would have ever seen in regards to Damon Salvatore before, it was one of compassion, of mutual pain for the man who was breaking before her and she couldn't do anything. Fingers slid through her hair, the tips tainted red with blood as they fell from the dark locks and her emerald hues focused on what she could do rather that what she couldn't. The veil had closed and left her in this trapped state. Bonnie's temper flared as she moved towards the smashed glass and tried in vain to pick up the splinters that admittedly couldn't hurt Damon, but as Bonnie glanced back at the vampire it was as if the air between them was electric. There was no fathomable explanation as to why it was the Salvatore Boarding House Bonnie had come to, nor was there one for why she wanted desperately to calm the man who was breaking apart before her. Damon was acting like someone she'd never known and she found it hurt her to see him so lost and alone. Brushing her hand over his cheek as she stood on tiptoe, wishing in that moment she could touch him, to try and show him that she was safe. She wasn't okay – being dead was far from okay, but she was safe and nothing hurt her anymore. It was a new sensation to be completely void of pain that Bonnie could now let everything else come to the surface and as the soft pad of her thumb seemed to caress Damon's skin and the urge to berate him for his outburst she froze. She could be mistaken but the vampire was leaning his face into her touch as if he could feel her there, Bonnie bit her lip and tried once more to see what happened. Her left hand running over raven waves that would when just a little longer, catch across cerulean hues that were filled with so much emotion that they had held her transfixed so many times before. Damon's eyes closed as if held in a trance as he rolled his head into her hand. There was no denying it – somehow the vampire could feel her near.

_"Bonnie?"_

His voice tentative and uncertain as his eyes searched the apparent empty room with puzzlement within the hurt and tear-stained face as feet crunched over broken glass and Bonnie knew there would be muttering about the Persian rug enduring more suffering come morning. She stayed motionless after moving four steps away from the vampire unsure as to what to do, yes, he could feel her though how was a mystery but surely he wouldn't hear her?

_"__You must miss me Damon... you never call me anything but Judgey unless you need me for something. I'm here, just turn your head to the right a little."_

Bonnie watched as Damon turned maybe 45 degrees to the right at her instruction, his face filled with amazement as eyes ran across the corner of the room searching for her. She watched the mixture of emotions fall across his eyes as he moved closer to her and as her dead lungs seemed to catch oxygen she felt his fingers brush through her hair and over her cheek as Damon's hiss of amazement filled her ears. Both of his hands cupped her petite face as she lifted her eyes to look into his and she watched a solitary tear fall from azure hues and over ivory skin.

_"Judgey? I know it's you who's here, tell me the truth – you just couldn't get enough of me so you're haunting me now? I mean I deserve it, being so damn cruel to you but it's __all I know really, to hurt those you care about. I just wish you knew that I'm sorry. I never say sorry to anyone Bennett remember that? Too damn proud to confess my mistakes but I can get away with it now because.. because you're dead. No __running to Jeremy you here, I'll make his life Hell if you do. Kidding, the kid is going through so much, we all are. What were you thinking Bennett? You didn't let __anyone in – didn't trust us enough, or was it the fact we've always thought you were able to handle everything. We failed you Judgey and I would do anything to __show you the truth, to show you how empty it is without your irritating self here."_

Being dead meant that Damon could be honest? Stifling a laugh at the absurdity of the whole scenario Bonnie listened to Damon berate himself but with his usual style he managed to make me laugh and roll my eyes as he turned his concern into an attack on my kindness. He was right though, Bonnie's naïve approach to protecting everyone had cost her everything in the end, She never got a chance to experience the world, do anything Bonnie wanted to do with her life. She was dead, life over before it had truly began and there was no way she could come back, Bonnie had seen too much of what opening the veil could cost people. Alaric, Lexi, Kol, all back to help people and who was there for her? No one. It hurt Bonnie even now to face that reality, she was only wanted when she could give those around her something they needed.

Or was she?

_"__I failed myself Damon. I don't want this – I want to be standing here, my heartbeat strong in my chest and be able to fight against Klaus, or even you but I can't. I'm not supposed to be here, I am supposed to be cold in the ground."_

Tears fell fast down Bonnie's cheeks as she realised she wanted more than anything to be alive, to be the girl with fire in her eyes again, as she sank away from the safety of Damon's embrace she felt empty for the first time. He'd awakened something that lay dormant within Bonnie – it was the thought that she wanted to matter to someone and hearing Damon's reaction to her death she wondered if the crazy notion within her chest was a true one. Damon, missed her. Lifting her eyes at the sound of a third person within the room, Grams was there as she had been on and off since Bonnie's death, watching and guiding her to something whatever it was she didn't want it. Bonnie wanted Damon, Stefan, Care even Elena after everything we had been through recently. Death? That she certainly didn't want. As Bonnie watched her Grams's serious façade she wished that Damon could see the elder Bennett witch and see that Sheila Bennett was watching over has as she had done in life – at least then maybe he wouldn't be so upset that she was gone.

_"Grams is here Damon, can you feel her too? I hope you can she's trying to help me... to guide me, sorry I'm, babbling I don't know what to do Damon, I need your help though – please Damon, find a way to bring me back. My body is lying in the morgue and I belong within it! I don't know how but there has to be a way!"_

Bonnie had been dead under twenty-four hours, and in that time, she had been tormented by the spirits of the witches she had indirectly been responsible for the deaths of. She had faced the wrath and the painful truth of the ghostly form of her Grandmother for daring to believe she was capable of more to have thought that in the short time she had been aware of her magical heritage she had lost insight of who she was without it. Atticus Shane had broken her apart and rebuilt her but the ruptured shards of her body and soul hadn't fitted back as they should and when she'd found herself trusting in him he had used to twisted logic and grief to make her face Silas who had been the living embodiment of every nightmare anyone could find themselves against and for a while Bonnie had managed to survive but only barely. She had faced everything she could, with her head held high and the fire in her eyes till death had taken it's grasp on her petite form and the light had faded and become dull and her breath had filtered away in a rattling final cough. One full day and she couldn't survive the loneliness and darkness that had her drowning and Damon Salvatore was the immortal raft she found herself clinging too in desperation.


	2. Chapter 2

-chapter two-

The creak of leather beneath his body irritated his heightened hearing as Damon tossed and turned, the bottle of vintage 1743 Samuels Family bourbon having done little to numb the pain he was within. Grief was an emotion he had denied himself for so long. He had felt it when Rose had died but there had been guilt intermingled in that period of denial and self-loathing because he had been the one to kill her. Damon had been haunted by the knowledge that Rose had died because of him, the bitch of a wolf Jules had been there for him not Rose and yet, she had gone and sacrificed herself for him. He recalled her belief in him, that he was worthy of more ans had to look at himself through the eyes of others. What was it with stubborn women in his life? Was it a reflection of the kind of woman Damon remembered his mother being? Mary Salvatore had stood up and refused to be the little wife for Giuseppe and Damon knew it had cost her several beatings with the same belt that had crossed his legs at such a tender age and that hadn't changed until she had died of Consumption and destroyed the last shred of hope Damon had felt in his life. Processing the last twenty four hours, the knowledge that as much as he had loved Elena she was too broken, and almost too dark and haunted for him to be with, or was he who was ? Everything Damon had wanted, was now everything he would run from. He would always care for the latest doppelgänger but it wasn't going to be the happy ever after he'd thought he would have with her. Shaking his head searching for clarity Damon acknowledged that it was he who was too broken for Elena Gilbert. Whether she was the mortal he had encountered on the road to Wickery Bridge the night of her parents death or now as the vampire whose passion and desire for living mirrored his own insatiable need to appreciate that if you lived forever you shouldn't waste it for one second. The harshest and almost impossible idea that Bonnie Bennett was dead hit him harder than anything he had ever experienced.

The little witch who could bring the cruel, the soulless and immoral creatures that wanted to break apart the idyllic beauty that was Mystic Falls to their knees was gone. Lying cold behind a metal door in the mortuary at the hospital and she was alone, the horror he had felt when knowing Elena was in that small cold room was nothing to this, Damon had to admit silently that he had always felt Elena would end up there, but not Judgey. Bonnie Bennett had spent so much of her life alone, her solitude both self-imposed and also enforced by those who had neglected what was before them, and now it was too late to rectify such a thing. As Damon found himself hating the idea of her like that in death, he swung long legs off the sofa and extinguished the fire in the grate, the cool of the room quickly filling his soul. Bonnie wasn't going to be alone this night he had failed her by being so damn blind to what could happen and Bonnie's innate stubbornness. Reaching for the car keys to his beloved Camaro his eyes were drawn to the small frame that Elena had placed on the mantle piece on one of her frequent visits – it was a rare image because as ecchymotic hues took in the image and a momentary uplift of his lips Damon saw everyone together, the two missing people forever captured behind glass as Alaric and Bonnie both smiled from the image.

_"I don't know if you're still here Bonnie, but I can't leave your body like that, you deserve something more than a white shroud and strangers looking over you. I'll go there now and I will do what I can to bring you back, the darkest of magic, the largest amount of money I have to pay for answers. Anything because this place? This isn't home for any of us without you."_

The expected silence was of course the only reply to his words, Damon left the house and the emptiness behind. The dust on the road and the quiet of the night air his only companion as time ticked by and the knowledge that he wouldn't find what he needed here without help. As if his acknowledgement of his situation had reached the miles apart, his phone rang and the number one he hadn't expected to have flash up for a long time. The very fact this person was calling him at nearly three in the morning highlighted the despair and shock of the last day had effected everyone. Even those who hid their emotions better than most. Even those whose allegiances were far from in alignment with his. Enemies in the war were now all in the same position, the cure had been lost, and pain was the overwhelming emotion felt by all. There was no joy, no gloating to be had.

_"I thought you were leaving to celebrate in the streets of New Orleans and rain blood on those who stood in your way or rather your that of Klaus and Elijah? Oh come off it you didn't care about her, so why start giving a damn now? You what? So because she mattered to him? Bonnie suddenly matters to you too – you're twisted but if you can help me then who am I to deny your assistance. Call me later I need to get to her. She can't be there alone and fuck knows where that idiot of a Father is now, probably planning our destruction rather than caring about his daughter but what's new. No, I know that don't start another menial argument now. Yes, I do care, and I did – even Elena acknowledged it, she is.. was... someone who affected you whether you saw it or not..."_

Hanging up from the Original Barbie Damon found himself having to prepare himself for the fact he was going to see Bonnie's frail body cloaked in Death's shroud and it chilled him to the core. A vampire who was hesitant of facing a corpse, the man who had killed thousands in his long existence was afraid of seeing the little witch in such a state. Closing his eyes to steady his emotions, the wheel expertly moving beneath his grasp to turn into the hospital grounds and with a heavy heart he found himself there. The hospital standing imposing amongst the lights and trees. The still of the night suffocating him further as he glanced to the passenger seat praying for a miracle that Bonnie would be there. That he would feel her gentle soul next to him but there was nothing. He was alone with his thoughts and that made him jittery. Making use of his preternatural speed he was within the building and walking the solitary hallway with the almost stereotypical 'designed to unnerve you in the middle of the night' flickering strip lights above his head within a few minutes. There before him were the two white doors that he had hoped not to enter again after Elena's death but at least then she had woken up. Bonnie wasn't waking up this morning. Heavy footsteps echoed over the cheap linoleum tiles as Damon scanned the room for the file telling him which one of the doors had her tiny body lying behind, his azure orbs falling on a piece of paper bearing her name and the number 218. A tight smile appeared now that he could get to her and protect her now from whatever the truly dead were afraid of, as strong fingers pulled the handle down and the heavy metal opened a little before he took that unneeded but much wanted deep breath into the vacuum of his long still lungs. Behind the metal and darkness was the girl who had sacrificed so much for so many, the thankless tasks she had faced adding up in his head as with a bowed head he pulled the door and slid out the metal bed she lay on. Confronting the peaceful face of Bonnie Bennett, Damon swore his heart was breaking as he stroked the limp hair from her soft cheek. With a fractured smile Damon lifted her from the cold and cradled her to his weary form. Now he had her, no one was going to hurt her any more, he couldn't explain why he was doing this. Why it felt like his soul was calm now he had the little bird that was Bonnie in his arms but the beatings he had taken emotionally faded away as he lifted his eyes to the corner of the room.

_"Hey Judgey... I know you're there now. I can feel you little witch so come out of the shadows and talk to me? I'm not leaving you alone both physically and spiritually tonight. So as __you're stuck with the one who annoys you, why not give it to me both barrels or whatever you need to do. Do a Sam Wheat on me and smash a glass or something?"_

There was a definite flicker of something in the farthest corner of the room as Damon tried to focus on the shadows and light that surrounded him as he carefully lay on the metal that ran around the walls of the room and held Bonnie to him. His fingers a constant slow movement within the tendrils of her hair as he studied her features. She could be sleeping, she was so peaceful and there wasn't a mark on her face as Damon lifted her arms to examine each one carefully, fingers caressing the smooth skin noticing blemishes and scars from was relieved that not one was recent and therefore a result of their neglect of the precious girl who lay in his embrace. He didn't know how, but he wouldn't rest till she was restored to her bright and somewhat irritating though talented and vivacious self once more. Bonnie Bennett would not lie in the dirt if he had anything to say about it. A vow was made and whether it was one for good or for bad, Damon never broke such a vow to anyone. Especially himself.

_"Grams says you're wasting your time Damon.. that this is as it should be but I know you. You will never listen to anyone when you want something you will not stop till you get it. I pitied anyone who crossed you in the past but now, now that you're fighting for me I've never been so thankful for your pig-headiness. It's cold there, wherever there is because it feels like __I'm slipping off the side walk and into a pit where I can't do anything but struggle to get to where I belong. I'm on the outside looking in on my former life and I feel as though I'm __fading away too soon, so please I beg you – save me."_

Her words were breaking as if Bonnie was coming closer and Damon swore that he saw her standing before him and it was as if the years of loving and being infatuated by the doppelgängers faded away. How could he not have seen how the gold flecks in her eyes seemed to shimmer when light caught them? How did he not remember how the darkness of her hair had flecks of red within them and it framed her face perfectly accentuating her features making her look truly beautiful. She had an innocence in her every look even when she was anger that made Damon want to hold her to me and promise it would be all right, which as he looked at her corporeal visage he did with the frail cold body in his arms. The room was filled with a red glow as the sun slowly began to rise and Damon wondered just how long he had been lying here with her within his embrace, not long enough because daylight would mean that the medical examiner would hurt her and Damon wouldn't let that happen.

_"Rebekah says that there's a witch in New Orleans who can help but it's dangerous Bonnie we know what dealing with magic like that can lead to. I mean for starters I have to trust __Rebekah Mikaelson and that's something I have never really done before but time is ticking. I know that Judgey so don't give me that look even if I can't see you properly doesn't __mean I can't guess the look you have on that not so innocent face of yours. Tell me what you know, because you Miss Bennett, have always been one to know where to go and what we __can do. Ignore Sheila, she's probably just mad that you came to me, she hated me from the first moment we met Bon. I doubt that feeling for me will ever change even if she sees that I am trying to help you. I know.. I know you don't mess with nature and the 'way things should be' but rules were only made for one thing Miss Bennett and that's to break them. So tell your Grams that as much as she may hate it – you're coming back to us and leaving her there to the spirits and the guardianship she offers in Death."_

Slipping the jacket from his shoulders, manoeuvring Bonnie's still form carefully to allow the fabric to slide over his muscular arms, Damon wrapped the leather around her and with an element of his blasé attitude Damon scrawled a note leaving it where the slender frame of Bonnie's form had lain. _'Needed my own bed... I'll see you in seventy years. Bonnie.'_ Smirking to himself at the bitter humour he'd displayed in such a few words, Damon carried Bonnie's tiny body out into the morning sunlight. Knowing no trace of him would be found and if there were, well the morgue would be housing one of it's own behind door 218. He would deal with the wrath of the distraught Caroline Forbes and Elena later, but for now as he lay Bonnie's body into the trunk of the Camaro with a remembrance of when he'd done once before, and hoped never to do again. With thoughtful eyes he adjusted the jacket and placed a blanket over the rest of her little frame covering her and ensuring she was well - she was comfortable in the darkness. Trying to decide where to go, he let the girl who he knew was at hisside guide him as the car disappeared into the vermilion coated distance taking them both away from the place where Bonnie's beauty had been forever altered. Climbing the hill out of Mystic Falls and out into the more wild countryside areas of the town Damon allowed himself to relax and smile softly to himself, at the realisation he was allowing himself to admit, he would risk it all. For her. For Bonnie, he knew there and then that if the Devil himself requested his soul? Damon would hand it over for a chance to see her smile again, or God forbid, the horrendous headaches she had thankfully stopped doing for a while now to him at least. If Bonnie Bennett could be with him again he'd offer up his life if asked. Then admittedly he'd kill the bastard who wanted it because what was the point of being gone if she was here? Damon was many things, selfish, arrogant, self-assured and determined, the one thing, he wasn't was foolish. Damon knew the truth that had been bubbling below the surface and hidden in his need to be what Elena wanted him to be – he was in love with Bonnie Bennett and every infuriating thing she did made him love her just a little more.

_"I love her..."_

His thoughts voiced and unable to be taken back as the little witch heard him and her eyes widened in surprise. How could Damon love her? How could he give up everything he had wanted for the last few years for a girl he had spent the best part of their time venting and declaring she meant nothing to him. As Bonnie watched Damon slow down and turn into the familiar land where the hundred witches had been sacrificed, the place that in life had chilled Bonnie after the spirits had turned their backs on her and began her downfall into Silas's power over her. Rebekah was there, and Matt which broke Bonnie further as they wouldn't know she was here with Damon and she wanted to reassure Matt that she was okay, to tell her friend that she loved him. Watching the blonde vampire go to the trunk as Damon exited the car and nodded to Matt in a silent acknowledgement that at this moment they were united, Bonnie saw her body still wrapped in Damon's jacket be carried by the Original into the ramshackle building and with horror in her heart she felt herself drawn back into the darkness and away from Damon. She could only hope as she found herself lost once more that the witch she had felt could help restore her.

_"Are you sure Blondie that this will work, this witch is the real deal right because I'm not opposed to ripping out her jugular and tying her body from the tree with her own entrails are we __clear?"_

Rebekah nodded reassuringly at the Salvatore who had a look in his eyes that she hadn't seen for a long time. It wasn't until she had met Matt and she had known how it felt to be wanted completely by someone. Damon had that look, and as much as he would deny it, the blonde Original could see it written in his every feature and action. Damon Salvatore wasn't in love with Elena Gilbert any more, it was Bonnie who had him, well bewitched. Rebekah lowered Bonnie to the ground as Matt lit candles as instructed by the witch who, quite sensibly, didn't look at Damon. It was apparent to all that the elder Salvatore was just hanging on by a thread any only that because he had Bonnie's body near and he could still smell her perfume on his clothes. Rebekah hated to think what he would be like if separated from the little witch, in all her years walking this Earth had she seen someone so lost and despondent as him in this moment.

_"Klaus swears she's the best there is, of course she's second to Bonnie of course but well, she can't bring herself back and trust me if Aintza here isn't the real deal and has tricked my brother then we shall feast on her blood and show her the true meaning of barbaric within vampires. However, I do think she has more sense than to trick Klaus as well as us Damon so let us begin this arduous task of restoring what was lost to where it belongs. Now Damon, shall we begin?"_

Azure hues ran over the leather covered body of Bonnie Bennett and with a deep sigh he sat down on the dusty ground and went to claim her delicate hand within his large one, the need to give her comfort too strong to deny himself any more. As Bonnie's fingers were held between his rough ones, Damon watched Aintza with interest and wariness. If this witch hurt Bonnie in any way she would be drained and eviscerated, and Damon would take great pleasure in it too, if it would even for a short time make things a little better for him. Damon openly admitted he was selfish, but why the Hell not, to him it was a defining and necessary emotion. It kept him alive which of course, was a good thing for both him and those that mattered to him. He wanted to be narcissistic with Bonnie, and keep her to himself once he had her back, once those verdant eyes truly looked at him. Bonnie would tell him she hated him of course, and he would return the sentiment but it was a lie, or a routine they had of saying they hated one another. That the only reason they spent any time together was because Elena needed them too. The Bonnie and Damon play of words performed so often now that lies had become blended with truth, Damon hated that she was selfless, and he imagined she hated that he was selfish. They were too in sync, and too alike for this hatred to last. The cognizance of it all, of all the lies that had been said, he had realised certainly coming from his side, that hatred had become a whole new emotion and after the bizarre conversations that he had had with Bonnie in the last few hours, he highly doubted Bonnie hated him too.

_"It will a lot of power Miss Mikaelson, I need to draw on the spirits held in the ether around us, she's angered so many witches by her refusal to listen that I don't know if they will aid me."_

The growl from Rebekah echoed the one from Damon as their eyes took on an onyx shade, the azure fading away as the vermilion webs grew over their orbital bones and the witch shrank back possibly expecting the other human in the room to help her. Aintza was sorely mistaken, Matt was there to stop her movement as she spoke ill of the dead friend who lay asif in slumber before them all. The vampires advanced on her and the menacing growls and elongated fangs were warning enough that her comment, no matter how true, was unwanted and unneeded. The witch cowered from the vampires and sidestepped from Matt, her sorrel hues lowering from the dangerous look in the two furious vampires. The flickering candles that circled Bonnie's body were dripping wax onto the dust coated floorboards and Damon prayed that soon those thick lashes would lift the soft lids and reveal to him the fire lit viridian hues he missed so much. The Latin verse of the magic Aintza had been reading over began to fill the room and Damon paced behind her unwilling to sit there again waiting. How he longed for a drink, for the burn of the bourbon to coat his throat as it coursed through him but instead he had nothing to sate him and calm the nerves that were building within him. Watching Aintza work was testing him, the more she spoke, the more he prayed that the witch knew what she was doing. Bonnie was too still, too quiet and it made him want to carve outthe eyes of anyone who dared say she wouldn't come back. The veil was restored and her death shouldn't have been the cost, Jeremy Gilbert was needed for Elena, but Bonnie was  
wanted by all.

_"... clara creata fulget animae navium capax, ut tellus orantes petitis, domine caeli sol et luna, et his qui diligunt eam restituere. Immaturum mortis petiit soror mea et ego voco super __animabus illis, qui perditae hic sororem nostram propitius et misericordiam in tribulatione..." (1)_

Aintza went on and the Latin grated on Damon taking him to sermons at the chapel that was still used by the Founding Families for their Sunday service but now, their arrogance and conceit as the families dwindled away, deigned to allow the other residents into the small building dedicated to the God that Damon had gradually lost faith in as the loneliness without the love and guidance of Mary Salvatore. A place of God would become somewhere he wouldn't enter for centuries, seeing it as another place he would be deemed unworthy. Lost to his musing and memories, he found himself recalling Sundays at the Salvatore home when Giuseppe would deign Stefan and Damon with his presence long enough to ensure the boys were dressed well, though Stefan always was just that little smarter and clothes made of a finer cloth than himself but it hadn't mattered because Damon could sing the songs his beloved Mama had song so beautifully and had he had hoped her soul was at peace but not enough that she wouldn't hear him sing for her spirit.

_"How much longer do I have to endure that sound, when will Bonnie wake?"_

His eyes met Rebekah's who was sitting Indian-style at the side of her boyfriend and the look in Blondie's eyes weren't what Damon had expected. There was understanding, hope and friendship, it hadn't entered his head as to why Klaus and Rebekah had stopped their plans to leave for New Orleans when news of Bonnie's death had reached them. Damon had presumed the Original hybrid and his sister would have welcomed the news that the Bennett line was left with only one pure member of it's lineage left. As Abby was without power and even if she did, her treatment of Bonnie would make Damon drain her again just for punishment. Yet, Klaus and Rebekah had quietly aided Damon with his need to protect Bonnie and to grieve without question, reproach or mockery, of which he wouldn't have been able to handle. They could ridicule the love or lust he had had for the two other women he had let into his heart but they would not, nor would anyone else do that to the way Bonnie Bennett had affected him. Because in truth, even Damon couldn't understand it. The shake of golden waves from across the room was the answer to Damon's question and he lowered his gaze to the mocha skinned beauty that lay motionless. Without thinking about it, Damon found himself memorizing every feature of her face, longing for the flush of life to enter her cheeks and to find himself caught out as he would watch the enticing way her teeth caught her lower lip when she was reading. Damon needed Bonnie. No ifs, buts or maybes, he was lost without the one and only person in his 173 year existence who could make him burn with desire and want to strangle in frustration at the same moment. Unable to handle the pity in Rebekah's eyes or the sound of Matt praying under his breath, Damon forced himself to leave Bonnie with them and the witch who was quiet for thefirst time in what felt hours of mantras. The warm air hit him and made his skin tingle under the heat of the Virginian sun. Damon's lithe form moving fast towards the car and the flask that had better be housed under the back seat of the Camaro. One must always be prepared for any eventuality and for Damon, that meant being able to drink and let the sweet liquor calm him for a little.

_"Judgey, now is not the time to do what Sheila tells you, Rebekah and I will kill that witch if you don't wake and I'm not trying to guilt trip you but really, do you want the death of a member of one of the strongest covens in New Orleans? Klaus wouldn't be pleased – or maybe he would as the witches are rising up against his arrogant ass and his puppy in training. Wherever you are Bonnie Bennett, your body is waiting for you, I'm waiting for you, don't make me beg little bird, my reputation is already in ruins as it is thanks to Elena and her damn obsession to change everyone into being what she wants us to be." The vampire lay his head back and felt her, the reticent touch of her fingers through his hair that he felt stronger than before, perhaps that was down to Aintza and witchy ju-ju that was going on inside, but he didn't care. His friend, the girl that he needed around was here and he knew deep within him would return to the little body the lay within. _

_"I can feel the light Damon, it's like when a door opens even when there's a lock on it.. the barrier is breaking and I can feel myself being drawn to it. To where I..."_

Her voice faded and instead there was a shout from Rebekah calling him back to the sun filled room, his body flew to the doorway throwing the wood harshly into the wall as it splintered from the frame. Damon stood transfixed his eyes drawn to the witch on the ground as he willed her sudden disappearance from him outside to her being where she needed to be. His body tensed as he saw the slightest movement of dark lashes and the delicate movement of her lips as they opened, concentrating on nothing but her he heard it. The unmistakable sound of a third heartbeat within the room, she was there. As he walked slowly, nervous of this being a dream, and knelt at her side, his hand claiming her petite one gently as he waited for her to open her eyes. When she did, he swore his still heart fluttered to life only to skip within the confines of his chest as azure held chartreuse.

_"Damon?"_

She was truly there, alive and in one piece. The aching solitude that he had felt melted away as he gently held her to him wondering just when Bonnie would make him pay for such an act and as much as the repeated explosions of the aneurysms would bring him, he would take each and every one because she was alive.

_"Thank you."_

(1) _"... the vessel is created to contain the soul that shines bright, so I pray and ask Mother Earth, the celestial Sun and the Lady Moon to restore her to those who love her. Death claimed my sister too soon and I call on those souls who were lost here to forgive and to show love to our sister in her distress..."_


	3. Chapter 3

"_Let me tell you a little bit about demons. They love pain and other people's misery. They lie when it suits them and don't see anything wrong with it. They corrupt and kill and destroy, all without conscience. You just don't have the capacity for something as honourable as loving another person." - _Brenna Yovanoff

-chapter three-

Bonnie's face as she thanked Damon was one filled with surprise and sheer delight, never in his hundred and seventy plus years had Damon seen such a beautiful sight as when she smiled at him. Shaken still that she was actually alive, Damon took tentative steps towards the little witch and swept his arms around her tiny frame pulling her to him. Breathing in the vanilla scent of her skin and coconut scented waves of her hair. Her lips were so soft against his, the taste of strawberry balm intoxicating his senses, the sweet tasting gloss faded from her mouth as his own swept across them hungry for her. Damon felt like he had been starved for centuries without her, there very feel of Bonnie against him, the way she clutched to him made him unable to move. Dragging his mouth away from hers to look at Bonnie's face properly, to memorize everything he could about her, to see if there was anything so very different in her face. Had he forgotten anything in the hours he had endured her stillness, the way his heart had sunk within the confines his chest at the very idea of her not existing anymore? Bonnie's absence even for a short period of time had turned everything he had known, felt and wanted on its head, the axis of his life forever changed by her death. This tiny girl had gone through so much for everyone else and for what? To die for everyone else, to feel herself lost, what was it she had said to him once?

That they were born to die. It had seemed so poetic, so very Sylvia Plath when she'd said it but now as the bright hope filled malachite hues searched cerulean eyes for something, Damon realized she was right. Both of them had been tormented by those they had tried to protect, had searched for purity within those who spoke of goodness but whose actions were wholly selfish and cruel. He had deemed the bad brother, the one filled with darkness by so many who failed to see through the mask Stefan wore, both had been tainted the moment they died and the blood of Katherine had changed their fate irrevocably. How many times had Damon had to try and remind those who saw him as the monster that he was the one? Damon hadn't wanted to be this, he had wanted to marry and raise a family, die happy and content as an old man some hundred years before but that had been denied him. By loving one, he had denied himself what he had seen as happiness, by loving Katherine and trying to be the good brother to Stefan, he'd accepted this has his fate and on that grassy bank. His brother hadn't wanted to be alone, and had forced the way Damon thought about him to change and he had acknowledged that this was who he was. If it hadn't been for Katherine, and Stefan to a degree he wouldn't be here. Yet, how many times had he contemplated how different things could have been, how he had manipulated by those he had trusted?

Too many.

Damon had been called the bad son so many times and the bad brother, the Devil Incarnate almost, that he had embraced it all with a heavy heart. His Father had seen him as a disappointment, his Mother when alive had at least see his free spirit but she'd been lost to both Damon and Stefan too soon. What he would have given for her to see him now? To see through the façade Damon wore all too easily. He was too comfortable being the hellion, being the bad Salvatore deemed to be selfish and cruel. Moreover this tiny girl, this bright innocent Bennett witch had been the one to see through his pretense and even when fighting had saved him from others, and himself. How could he have been so blind to what had been before him for so long? How foolish had he been to hurt her, to neglect the unadulterated and unappreciated thing that had been in his life.

"_Bonnie Bennett, I vow this now – you must never leave me like that again. Do you realise how it felt to find you like that. You gave up your life judgey for what, for the cruel monster, for a dream that in reality is wasted on Elena. I thought.. thought I could love Elena no matter what she is, human or vampire, but I was wrong. _ _I must have been crazy Bon, to think she was different from Katherine, she's softer yes when human but she's just as selfish and her soul, it's darker than Katherine' ever was because she turns from those who love her to just possess another. I don't need someone like that making me blind to the truth. It's you Bonnie – you have this beautiful purity that glows from you, you're not afraid to show how you feel and you.. you have made me feel more alive recently than I have in decades. But I swear, if you ever ever do anything like that again, I will kill you myself."_

There was a look in Damon's eyes that Bonnie hadn't known, his darkened cerulean hues were filled with despair and pain. It was a sight that ran fear through every vein and made Bonnie's head ache in a way she imagined she had hurt his on numerous occasions. She closed her eyes and sighed softly as Damon's arms slid around her. Finding herself pulled flush closer into his body, the smell of Damon was intoxicating, bourbon, his spicy cologne and a scent that was unique to him. As much as she wanted to do this, wanted to surrender to the feelings he was stirring within her. She was torn in different directions, his tenderness was reminding her that those she had lost so much for hadn't been near. Her mind was filled flashbacks of the amount of times she had gone above and beyond for Elena and Jeremy, Caroline, Tyler, the Salvatores and even the Mikaelsons and how often she hadn't received a thank you or support. Even when Grams had been lost to her, when she had needed someone there for her what she had had was Stefan turning up on her doorstep appearing to care but all he had wanted was help. Here with Damon she almost let herself believe he was genuine, that he cared but she knew better. No one truly cared for Bonnie Bennett no matter.

"_Why are you being so.. not you Damon?"_

Her voice was calm and it instilled in the vampire the knowledge that she was still very much Miss Bonnie Bennett, the cynical and guarded girl he had wanted to crush, protect, kill and cherish all at once and at different times. One of the things that Damon Salvatore admired about the young witch, was she had the strength even when all was lost to keep her mind clear and at her outward appearance perfect to most. Damon had of course on numerous occasions seen through her mask but despite every fiber of his being screaming out to be there for her, to help her, Damon had run from being the good guy for her when he should have swallowed his pride and picked her up and looked after her. He should have honored the vow made to protect all witches in the Bennett line, the one thing he hadn't done very well of late. Sheila had died because of him, Abby... well she had 'died' at his touch and need to protect Bonnie though the young witch hadn't been able to accept that fact all too well. The neglect and apparent indifference for her daughter, the strongest and most vibrant of all Bennett witches had left Damon shaken. He needed to fix his mistakes.

"_I am being me Judgey, with you, I show my flaws, my imperfections and ironically given the name I call you, in the last few months you have been the least judgmental of all. I am who I am Bonnie Bennett. I am internally defective, I am cruel, selfish and determined in everything I did and do. Which is why, you should know that when I say this Bonnie, I mean it. _ _I want you to fight, and to be strong – stop being the sweet girl and the push over to those around you. We should listen to you and do what we can for you and not the other way around. Except it Bonnie and listen to me, I'm strong enough to admit it, I'm sorry for hurting you, for not keeping my promise to Emily. For being one of the main people to break you apart. _

_I think I have said this before but not to you, though now it seems relevant, life is for the now Bonnie Bennett so, own it. Live it. Love it. Stop being ashamed of who you are."_

There was a moment, a definite moment between them that they shared in that juncture. Neither would admit it to the other, because moments like this weren't ones that Damon or Bonnie would ever had envisioned to happen with each other. Music filtered around the room as Damon found himself captivated by the beauty within his embrace, if he was truly the beast he saw himself to be, trapped within the body that to some seemed perfect. In his arrogant 'not giving a fuck what anyone thought of him' moods, he knew visually he was damn near perfect but internally he was damaged. Yet, he also instinctively knew that the little judgmental witch understood what he was and how the most perfect of things were only so because of their flaws and he had too many to count. Then maybe she could be the Belle spoken of in the fairytale that he recalled his Mother reading to him and even now, it made him smile sadly as he remembered a tiny dark haired boy with a captivated face and sky-blue eyes that were too big for his petite face enraptured in the words of the story. Thinking briefly of the story, Damon couldn't help but also think that if he was indeed the Beast, was he truly capable of redemption. Had he even possibly already begun to search for it unknowingly?

Maybe Bonnie was his savour and not, as he had thought when her breath had filled her lungs and expanded her petite frame, him being hers. The fire burnt bright in the hearth as they stood still bar one singular movement of Damon's thumb caressing her mocha skin, his cerulean hues flickering over every feature of her face. If he could breathe, it would be held captive within his chest. He needed to know something and it took all his strength to release Bonnie and guide her to the couch. Placing the crystal glass in her hand, the rich amber liquid sloshing inside as pensive hues caught innocent ones. His normal strong controlled tone is gone as he sits on the Persian rug and watches Bonnie closely as his whispered question reaches her ears and elicits a ragged breath from her soft lips.

"_What was it like, to.. to be like that?"_

Bonnie's face became tense and the colour she had had at one point in her cheeks faded away to a shade of grey that scared Damon reminding him of the still broken doll she had appeared to be when he'd found her. How do you answer such a question? How exactly do you describe what it was like to die to someone who can live forever? Taking a breath Bonnie swallowed firstly her fear and then the bourbon than burned and calmed her throat, finding she was growing accustomed to the taste around Damon now.

"_Grams was there warning me I wasn't strong enough but I didn't listen, stubborn to the end it seems. I felt numb, disconnected from everything around me and it was as if I was drowning, the pain of everything stopped and I saw the truth. I was weak, and I felt everything draining from me, my magic, my life I was so tired Damon and I just gave into my need to let it stop... I should have listened to her Damon! I was scared..._"

Gathering her thoughts Bonnie stared into the glass that had a few droplets of the drink remaining within the curve of the crystal. The normally controlled and calm Bonnie found herself doing something very out of character, the antique glass flew from her hand narrowly missing a stunned Damon's head and splintered into the fire. Flashes of pink rose as the bourbon dredges evaporated into the heat as Damon watched her break apart,her tiny form shaking from the emotionally charged feelings she was dealing with, and the fire he had longed to see in Bonnie Bennett for months surfaced just not in the way he had envisioned.

"_I was torn from my body and there was so many people around me, their voices a cacophony of noise and accusation, telling me I had failed my heritage and I wasn't capable of honouring my name. I stood and watched myself so still, not even a flicker of movement of my eye lashes as the breeze caught my face. I looked so peaceful like that but my body in death was in turmoil, I kept praying that things would change and I would be given a second chance.. to be given a chance to live and succeed but Grams stood there impassive as I was made to feel like a little girl by people I didn't know. I screamed and shouted at everything and everyone, desperate for the spirits to help me and for the living to hear me. _ _Neither happened. _ _I was trapped, a void of who I should be yet in some respects I had never felt so alive because I was free of the restraints of thought and pain. Does that make sense Damon?"_

The vampire nodded softly, his sable hair falling over his eyes from the movement as Damon processed the little witch's words, he couldn't formulate a sentence worthy of her memory. Unsure whether to move or to stay bowed at her feet. The eternal stud, the arrogant self-opinionated vampire with a hundred and seventy plus years of weight on his shoulders, who had enough knowledge within him to handle any situation, was submissive and still to the frail human who still managed through her sorrow and despair to shine brighter than the North Star. He was captivated, enthralled by the strength and beauty of the girl who moved slowly, her feet stopping at his bent knees and in amazement he felt her arms circle his broad shoulders and pull his body against hers in a strong embrace.

"_I couldn't bear you gone Bonnie, it was intolerable, painful even for those few hours that seemed to be a lifetime to me – a first in so long. A decade to me is like a month or week, it flies by so one day is like a blink of an eye normally yet the last day felt my entire existence had evaporated and left me standing on the precipice of a timeless void."_

Time itself did seem to stop as the two who had so many differences held onto one another, accepting their lifelines and the refuge they found within the others presence. Perhaps it was the very fact they were so different that it made such sense to be lost within one another. Their solitude and quiet was interrupted by the crash of the main door and Bonnie's screams filled the room, Damon's growling mixed with her desperate pleas to be left alone as the two stared into forest green hues and took in the cruel sadistic smile on the face of Stefan Salvatore, but their basic instinct knew better. Silas was there before them, his body relaxed and eyes burning with anger and amusement, the sycophant advanced on Damon and Bonnie whose petite frame was pulled behind Damon protectively, tiny fingers wove into his shirt allowing her to feel his whole body tense and take on the demon within as the man faded away. They moved further back into the room as Silas advanced upon them, it was an alien concept for Damon to back away to retreat from anything but he wanted to protect Bonnie who he knew was too weak to do anything to aid them. Though he knew he was similar to a mouse in the jaws of a tiger, Silas was too powerful, too clever to defeat but Damon would fight for his brother, for those who had lost too much, for the innocence stolen from everyone, even himself. The voracity for destruction and revenge fuelled with the vision of Bonnie lying broken because of Silas sent Damon forward in a flurry of fists and fury, as Bonnie watched his left fist connect with the right side of the face of the original doppelgänger earning a sadistic laugh from Silas. She froze, instinctively trying to protect herself without using her magic, unsure as to just what she had since her resurrection if any.

"_Just run Bonnie, get the Hell out of here now."_

Running just wasn't her style though. Bonnie was made to die yes, but she was born to fight too and as much as she was afraid of what could happen. The recently reawakened witch rose on her feet and as delicate fingers wrapped around the ornate poker viridian hues grew dark and her jaw set in defiance. Damon was holding Silas back, though not for long given the strain in his body and as the seam of his Varvatos shirt began to give, his face contorted into the demon within him. Transfixed Bonnie waited to see the opportune moment, using everything she had, her small body twisting as muscles rippled in her slender arms and the metal hit Silas giving Damon the chance to at least inflict some damage on the creature who claimed to be the founder of the Salvatore lineage. The smell of blood filled her senses and she was greeted with a very pissed off angry Damon, glaring at her with onyx hues that swam with danger and hunger, Bonnie stood, poker hanging by her side and watched the tip of his tongue caress his lower brim, fangs elongated and coated in saliva. His hand slipped into hers, claiming the cold metal within his palm as Damon's head rested against hers and a dulcet toned voice murmured softly.

"_I told you to run Judgey, why can you not do what anyone wants Bonnie? He could have hurt you.. he still could and will do if we don't get you out of here. Now move Judgey before I make you."_

Bonnie had thought in that moment Damon was going to lose his temper properly and she would be on the receiving end of it yet instead something so different but still so intense occurred between them. Holding on tighter to the metal in her grasp, she felt his teeth brush against her neck, his lips kissing her skin delicately she had to fight the urge not to whimper for him not to stop. The crash of the poker hitting the oak floor didn't make her jump but his hand splayed across her spine made her tremble instead. Silas was gone for now, having disappeared into the darkness and the witch and vampire were lost to their small bubble. Fingers ran under soft fabric, caressing hot supple curves and hard sinewy muscle as the petite witch's breathing grew shallow from desire and fear of how intense everything felt between them. Bonnie was drowning and as their lips met in a concupiscent meeting that ignited flames between them, she laughed brightly at the sudden break in their kiss as she looked into the bright cobalt orbs of the vampire as she found herself whispering against his lips.

_"Take me to bed Damon? Let me be someone different, let me be free?" _


	4. Chapter 4

-chapter four-

Clothes lay in a multi-coloured path along the oak flooring leading to Damon's room ending at the recently slammed door. His body flush against the panelling as the petite witch, he had desired but never allowed himself that precious knowledge, was kissing along his jaw, her warm breath caressing the now hyper-sensitive skin of his neck causing him to hiss in pleasure. Bonnie Bennett, the judgemental and Damon had presumed, innocent little witch was making him forget his own name with just the touch of her plush lips against his skin and her curious petite fingers creating growing circles over his toned body. Her touch so unlike anything he had ever experienced since first taking the maid to bed in his fifteenth year, no, there was something so indecently pure in her touch. A touch that made Damon moan softly and graze his teeth over his lip and lock his fingers against the wood fearing the rising need within him would lead to bruising her soft flesh and that was something he would never live with.

Bonnie Bennett was like the winters rose his Mother had adored, beautiful in adversity but even the strongest of all things could break from the wrong touch.

Her touch was so delicate, her warm lips caressing and tasting his skin as if she was hungry for him in the way Damon had hungered for blood or vengeance. Barely trusting himself he brought his hands up that he noticed albeit briefly were shaking as he let himself to touch her hips. There was something about her that had him drowning. Her body hot against his radiated arousal and desire but she was innocent and Damon knew was untouched for the most part. The jealousy and anger that flowed through him in acknowledgement that she had been touched by someone before him was surprising but he controlled the urge to possess her, to obliterate any memories she had of fumbling boys who didn't know what could be done to her with the smallest touch. The sharpest nip on his neck drew him from his thoughts as deep blue hues looked surprised into her truly stunning chartreuse that Damon noted were darkening and filled with desire earning her the signature Salvatore smirk.

___"Damon, you drive me mad..."_

His body lost the warmth as her tiny frame pulled away, transfixed on her curves, on the way she moved like his own personal siren, Damon was thankful he didn't need air in his lungs. Bonnie Bennett was undressing, slowly oh God too slowly for him, tiny hands brushing over the lilac shirt that clung to her curves in an all too innocent yet fiercely provocative way. The buttons left their silken holds as soft mocha skin was exposed and her head fell back as the softest sigh fell from her lips, swollen from his kisses, his desire to taste her. Azure hues took on a cobalt tint as Damon watched her small palms and delicate fingers graze over and caress the soft lace covered breasts that he wanted to feel beneath callous pads, he wanted her beneath him to hear her breath ragged, her body slick against his, to have her beg and moan his name before she became his. Yet he stayed motionless as her toned body was exposed to his hungry eyes, following the trail she made over her breasts, thumbs brushing over the hardened buds that he could almost feel beneath his tongue and between his teeth already. Did she know what she was doing to him? The self-control that Damon Salvatore lacked was running thread-bare now as the tip of her tongue flowed over her lower brim and his need to show her who was in charge rose, the demon and man both desiring her in a way he had never known before. He had enough of watching as both of her hands as one slid over her toned abdomen, sliding over her hips and upwards once more earning him the sound of her guttural moan of desire and the intoxicating scent of her arousal flooding his senses..

Measured heavy steps on his floor led him to the Goddess whose lust filled viridian orbs held his now black ones captive, without a seconds thought she was in his arms. She was bent back as blunt teeth caught the soft flesh of one breast tugging the lace down to reveal the sensitive bud to his tongue. Laving the delicate bud, it's response immediate and heavenly against his lips and tongue, Damon allowed his strong arms to slip beneath her denim clad thighs to lift Bonnie upwards. A low chuckle rumbled against her flesh as she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. She was claiming him even now when her hands ran through his hair tugging violently for a human to bring his lips in closer to her body. Gone was the last shred of restraint he had left as the battle of dominance between vampire and witch began, his kisses becomes brutal in their insistence for entry into the warm cavern of her mouth that she gave only after biting down on his lower lip. The simple action eliciting a low moan from Damon. He marvelled in her passion, how she had become alive and free from the shadows that had made them fight in the past, lowering her down onto the bed Damon found himself leaning back on his heels to look at her. To truly look at the young woman on his bed. Her hair was messy, thick dark waves cascading on his pillow, her eyes darkened in lust, her lips bruised from their kisses, Damon' heady azures traversed over her mocha skin taking in the slight marks of where his teeth had bluntly caught her neck, how her partially covered breasts heaved up from the remains of the bra, the flimsy lace calling to him, to both the man and monster within wanted to shred it, remove the last barrier that restricted his eyes from her flesh. She was breathless, a shimmer of sweat already coating her smooth skin that he would taste beneath his tongue, capture in blunt teeth to mark as his even briefly. Crawling over her body, his azure hues locking on truly the most captivating of emerald green eyes he'd ever seen, Damon found himself uncertain.

___"Are you sure you want me... want this?"_

Her nod and the reach of her petite hand to wrap around his arm was enough to tell him she wanted him closer to her resulting in his lips curling up into a smirk, rough fingers sliding up her legs caressing and massaging as they went. His eyes resting on her face as he whispered for her to look at him. The soft order, not request led to their eyes holding a look between them that no words were needed to translate. As callous fingers found the five metal buttons that had kept him from feeling her bare skin, Damon took a unnecessary breath and he swallowed hard, he was immersed in her scent as he dipped down. Placing open soft butterfly kisses running over her stomach, the gentleness he placed on Bonnie causing the beautiful witch to twist away and into his body. Fingers worked nimbly to release metal from denim and with a salacious smile her jeans lay on the rug at the side of his bed along with the scrap of lace she'd had covering the surprisingly smooth skin at the apex of her thighs.

Her husky voice tugged him rather unhappily and distractedly from his silent adoration of her beauty but the predator within him remained as he slid his muscular form over her body, making it very evident from the tightness of his dark jeans just what she was doing to him. The feel of her legs slipping over his as Damon made light work of the scrap of lace keeping him from the now neglected cocoa tinted buds and perfectly rounded breasts that called to him was all he could think of. Bonnie Bennett the sweetest, virtuous girl Damon found himself with was becoming a woman assured in her want and need. A want that surprised him and made him unconsciously shiver was him. He wanted nothing more than to kiss and lave his tongue on those darkened buds and through the valley between her soft breasts. Claiming one with his cool mouth rolling the bud between his tongue and teeth, his fingers teasing the other gently. As she moaned softly for him, Damon pushed against the heated flesh he knew he would soon savour. Tiny fingers ran like waterfalls over his broad shoulders, tugging the offensive black fabric from his body as her mumbled begging to feel him became too much. With a smirk that was so very much the man in his element, he tore the shirt from his body with a soft chuckle against her skin. Buttons cascaded around them and the sound of the fabric shredding apart filled the room and the sweetest sound to Damon's ears left Bonnie when she giggled for him.

With a smile that lit up his face, the little witch found herself flipped over. The softest thighs Damon had ever encountered in all his years were resting on the mattress to either side of his head, bright blue eyes locking onto green. Her arousal filled his senses, consuming him like nothing had before, Bonnie Bennett had done something no other had done to him, she had made him weak. Gripping her tenderly, yet possessively, his mouth parted against succulent flesh, the tip of his tongue gliding across her most sensitive and until now private of parts. Unbidden, yet most certainly wanted, Damon devoured her, each droplet building along the curvature of enticing folds and falling along the curled tip between his teeth. The sweetest sighs built within her and filled the room along with the keen mewls from the softest lips, each ripple of her body felt and witnessed by the vampire. She was like a flower, her petals opening and revealing solely to him the true beauty, suckling at the sensitive bundle between her delicate flesh, there lay upon his lips, the sweetest most intoxicating of all elixirs. His witch, his and no others was tumbling towards and abyss of his creating. Urging Bonnie forward through the pinnacle of her climax, he drank, feasted and suckled on the flesh. Kneading the bundle and folds between blunted teeth searching for the movement between her thighs that would cause her undoing. The flickering of his tongue within her was to be the key to that beautiful rise and fall, tiny fingers raked through long hair falling limply back to his partially covered shoulders when she arched and displayed her falling to him alone.

Sliding her shaking form down, sweet tasting lips claimed soft ones, his tongue guiding between hers as she panted out his name over and over in the prayer of a lover to her own equal. Revelling in the way she wrapped around his body, Damon guided Bonnie down to him, fingers entwining together in a comforting moment whilst they recovered from the first crescendo of pleasure. Held firm and contented together, Damon knew only one thing, he would never be without her again. With Bonnie in his bed, in his arms, his newly awakened love sprung from loss and hate held him bound and he would not break the binds she had upon him.

The slow deliberate movement of his body against her apex had him gritting teeth to be patient as his arms slid beneath her petite frame, splayed on the base of her spine to arch her into him. Savouring her to the fullest as he lifted her tiny body just enough to settle her on his lap and as her hands ran over the smooth planes of his chest, his eyes moved slowly over each curve, each perfectly smooth glistening part of her beautiful body. Her exploration of his own form only ignited his need for her further as he held her gingerly, almost afraid that if he lost control because of her closeness, her innocent devotion to his body he would hurt her. Unable to stop himself, his hips rose and fell against her legs, creating friction and teasing his Judgey, the one who had never left him, never lied to him.

Even in her hatred, she had been honest.

She had been the only one to make him believe he was worth more than being the other born to die. Cobalt hues disappeared beneath the heavy lids when he moaned out her name in pure ardour, clutching at her bare hips guiding her body against his. The denim between him and where he longed to be was hurting now, his aching length pushing to be near her skin but Damon would force himself to wait, he wanted her sated and begging for him, raving his body as he was hers. Once more after a bruising kiss, he lay the precious girl down on the soft bedding, taking her left leg within his hands Damon began brushing soft kisses up the arch of Bonnie's foot, swirling his tongue over the dainty ankle and as he crawled up between her legs. His hot open kisses were laid on her tantalisingly soft skin, restraining himself as his lips and teeth ran along her inner thigh. It was the hunger for the young witch's body and not her blood, that was hard to fight as cool air was breathed onto her hot skin. The sight of Bonnie writhing, grasping his pillow to stifle her cries was a sight to behold. Chuckling softly as he ran his tongue along the hot flesh of her right leg, Damon couldn't resist sinking blunt teeth into her thigh, just enough to leave a crescent of perfect teeth marks but not break the skin. A binding mark to him in that private and brief moment before it disappeared, yet he would know exactly where his mouth had lain. By the end of their night together being everywhere on Bonnie. Yet there was no denying it, that enticing thought of savouring her rich blood coating his cheeks, running along his tongue as he licked and worshipped her, was making Damon almost unable to function.

The witch whose body was lying resplendent before him, the glimmer of her arousal resting on the soft skin he knew without doubt he would running his tongue over in a similar manner to her leg now once more. He would savour the taste and feel of her soon enough drown in the exhilarating taste of her, the torture he had them both under was drawing to a close. Bonnie's breathless cries for him where all she could muster as his languid yet possessive touch made her cling to the material beneath her hot body, she found herself stretching every muscle within her to get closer to the man who was making with just his kisses her fall apart once more. She froze momentarily as she felt his kiss on the sensitive flesh she had been longing for his touch, but as strong hands pulled her forward to him and guided her knees up just enough to allow him to get exactly where they both wanted him to be... With an appreciative groan Damon couldn't resist the tip of his tongue claiming the sweet nectar that rested within her, as soon as he had that taste he become a man hungry for the woman whose feet were slipping over his hunched shoulders. Meticulously slow, his tongue dipped within the soft folds and her arousal hot and addictive began to coat his lips trickling into his mouth and he was lost.. caressing, teasing biting and sucking harshly on her flesh, within her hot core till with an arched spine and white knuckles she screamed his name...

Licking his lips as Bonnie writhed slowly on the bed, her thighs glistening with her arousal that Damon couldn't help but feel smug that he had drawn out from her. He stood and tugged steel from denim and kicked off his jeans letting them pool at his feet before returning to the bed, lowering himself carefully to above her tiny frame, gradually entering her impossibly tight but welcoming body, Damon brushed his lips against hers as he whispered hoarsely.

___"You're beautiful Judgey..."_

Guiding himself slowly into the tightness of Bonnie, claiming each part within her for his own, it took all his strength to take her gently, aware that as eager for him as he was for her, Bonnie was virginal and unused to anyone. Entwined fingers slid in between the others laying firmly on the soft mattress, holding his body above hers, the moment now not lost on him at all, for with one further movement within her would make her his. Slowly, tentatively Damon kissed her lips, teasing Bonnie's mouth apart with the tip of his tongue allowing him to capture that initial whimper of pain he had hated her to have but was beyond his control to stop.

Sweat trickled down his neck, dropping onto the curve of Bonnie' body with the thrust he took to make himself home within her, kissing down the delicate arch of her neck blunt teeth claimed perfumed skin. Toned muscle rippled between Damon's shoulders as his head bowed into her body resting safely against Bonnie's, never had it felt so right to be with someone and not feed, not want to take for himself and not give. This was for her, he found himself a slave willing to her whimpers and sighs driven by the way her fingers tightened their hold on his own. Damon moved between her thighs, her legs locked firmly around his waist shaking with pleasure and nervousness. Drawing them together, his cool breath in pants settles against her warmth growing in volume and need when her innermost walls claiming him at every thrust. Rolling them over, he lay below the beautiful witch that he loved like no other before, dark eyes held onto her green eyes heady beneath dark lashes. Holding her hands tight, Damon let her move, guided by instinct and desire, by the innate natural knowledge of what she wanted and needed from him. Driven to new heights by her body above his, bewitched by each salacious curve and rhythmic twist she made above and around him.

Damon knew she was his undoing, her body and her mind both had him lost and yet he was more himself than he had ever been. Pushing his hips up, he matched thrust for thrust within her to guide her into the climax her erratic movement showed her to be searching for. His raven hair soaked with sweat circled his head as it fell back into the pillows, mouth parted for the strangled cry of a single word, his loves name. Matched in volume and need with Bonnie' own as they fell together into a single joined climax.


	5. Chapter 5

-chapter five -

Waking in the early hours of the morning, the elder Salvatore felt relaxed and warm, tilting his head to look down, Damon took in the sight of the slender girl wrapped partially around him. Running his hand through dark hair, his fingers turning to catch the smooth skin of Bonnie's shoulder, Damon was transfixed by how calm she was. How very natural it felt to have her like this, her dark hair splayed across his chest, her slender arm circling his waist. In sleep, Bonnie had him hostage and nothing appealed more. Claiming the sleeping witch's lips for a kiss, a smile grew on Damon's face at the mumbled, sleepy groan. Not only that but the way her hand completely unbidden ran across his body, her soft pads caressing him and exploring as Bonnie woke.

Each gentle kiss they shared grew in length and intensity, till Damon had to begrudgingly accept that Bonnie had to breathe as a consequence, he pulled back from her soft lips to run the butterfly soft kisses along her neck. Hands slid over the toned slender stomach to claim his Judgey's breasts, noting how she breathed in deeply when his fingers caught the hardening buds, teasing and rolling them through his callous finger tips. Bonnie was a vision, everything about her called to him in a way no other had before.

If Katherine had been his first love, Elena his reawakening then Bonnie was what made his soul feel complete.

Breathing in her arousal, sweet and heady in its scent, Damon knew he had to be with her again, lose himself in her body once more. Drawing one hand down the curve of her hip, circling the toned muscle of Bonnie's hip fingers walked along her inner thigh up to the apex of her legs. Running his hand across the soft folds he'd lost himself in before, the smile Damon had been fighting from showing grew against the the curve of Bonnie' shoulder. She felt heavenly, the delicate skin beneath his fingers slick and pulsing with need called to him, with bated breath, Damon guided digits into Bonnie, caressing her body from within. Feeling the witch pulsate with need, hearing her breath growing ragged Damon slipped his fingers from within her body and guided himself deep into her. Breathing in ragged air, their lips met in a kiss searing and passionate in every way. Each roll of his hips against her legs drawing him closer to Bonnie, enabling them both to feel every minuscule moment of pleasure together. She was warmth, comfort and passionate in one perfect package. Large hands slid over smooth thighs, lifting them around his waist before guiding one to rest on his shoulder, the angle making each deep thrust he made send shivers down his spine. Damon moved slowly, each deep thrust within her warmth eliciting low moans from Bonnie, it was lazy, taking time to enjoy the morning anew with each other. Bodies moved as one, languid in their gentle caress of one another, palm met palm, there was no room between them as the soft curvaceous witch met the hard toned body of the vampire. Sucking softly on her neck, Damon's teeth tugged on the tight skin beneath her earlobe, relishing the trembling flutter of her pulse against his tongue. Oh to taste her blood, to capture that empowering flavor of her sanguine within his mouth made Damon moan softly. He wanted her in every way, body, blood and soul. Her caring and insightful mind, her selflessness.

Everything that Bonnie was, Damon wanted in his life. She had taken away the darkness he had felt and given him flickers of light and hope that he would be allowed some happiness. The petite goddess whose body was owning his in a way no other had before had captured something within him, each movement she made coaxing him towards a release he didn't want to come. In such a short time, despite the chaos he felt from her return and the fear that she would be snatched away from him. This closeness, this sudden realization and acceptance of how he had felt for sometime made him feel whole. This was something more, the way their fingers joined and eyes met was so intimate. Damon's body hummed with need as an unsteady hand found it's way into her hair drawing Bonnie's face down to his and their lips met in a kiss that drew her breath from her lungs and was engulfed in the warmth of his mouth. The sweet taste of her lips against his was consuming his senses, swirling his tongue to capture hers as her sultry moan pierced his hearing. The seductive final turns of her hips pushing down into body as his mouth suppressed her screams sent him over the edge and together they hit the climax they had been near too. Cradling her shaking form to his as he welcomed the final tremors around him with hooded eyes and her sweat running onto his chest. His hand released from hers, resting on the curve of her thigh creating delicate patterns  
on her skin, kissing the shell of her ear Damon's words left him before he had time to think.

_"I could stay here forever with you, it's as if..."_

As he went to confess how Bonnie had changed him, had reawakened the warmth he had within him, the softest touch silenced him. The delicate frame of his witch lay across his body and her finger rested on parted lips, she was stopping him from the words he needed to say. To be honest with himself, he knew she would do that. Her simple action was so very Bonnie Bennett, still the girl who had tolerated him and never been afraid to scold and shout at him. How often had he walked away from her scathing attacks on him and what he had done and found himself wanting to turn back and tell her that she was right? Too often, and yet he had never let himself do it, as weakness such as that would have caused his mask to break apart. Holding Bonnie to him, his hands skimmed over smooth legs, moving to rest on her narrow waist, allowing him the chance to look at her properly. Bonnie was still trembling but the intense look within her chartreuse eyes showed him all he needed to know, she felt the same as he did.

_"I know Damon, I know what you want to say but don't. Please don't say something that could change us completely. When we're free from Silas and this isn't so new? Tell me what you wanted to say. But know this simple thing, whatever you were going to say? I feel it too."_

Stretching out his body, muscles flexing beneath her shuddering frame, Damon caressed her skin bowing his head down to bring his mouth to the dip of her neck, breathing in the vanilla perfume as he began kissing up her shoulder. Carefully lifting Bonnie to lie at his side, they lay face to face, both of them moving tired hands over the others skin. It was a moment between them where nothing needed to be voiced. The deep felt emotions and words were spoken with touch alone, Damon especially being guided by the change in the little witch's breathing and the slight changes in her heartbeat. Their eyes closed over as the late morning sun filtered into the room, warming their bodies with its glow over the two relaxed beings. Both were relaxed and sated after the slow and gentle moments of making love so different from the previous nervous and almost desperate need to be one. Curled into one another, bodies spooned up in the centre of Damon's bed, sleep began to claim them, tugging them into realms of the sandman once more. Damon's voice was low against her skin as he held her tight to him, his fingers tracing along the slightly pronounced curvature of her hip.

_"How do you know we will survive this after everything you have been through? How can you, Bonnie, deny me the chance to tell you the words I should have said such a long time ago?"_

Her lips met his in a languid caress barely awake now but motivated to comfort the vampire and not the other way around as most would have expected. A slender arm circled around his neck and Damon did something he thought would be impossible, he shivered at her words. Once more, Bonnie Bennett had succeeded I shocking him, igniting the flame of desire and the need to protect her all in one.

_"Because I want you to say it to me. When we're all safe and you and I aren't afraid of what may come next."_

As Damon's body began to surrender to the warmth of the beautiful girl curled into him he couldn't help but whisper that she was his Presumptuous yes, because she was his now and he knew she would agree Damon felt himself being jolted back to the harsh reality of the day something he really hadn't wanted. His eyes focused on the man who had entered the sanctuary of his bedroom, fear radiating from him as well as fury. After such a perfect morning with Bonnie, this had to be the payment for his happiness. Silas was standing in the corner of his room, his body leaning against the door frame his low laugh so like Stefan but the coldness, the cruelty in his face made Damon tug the sleeping witch to his body. His hands splaying across her back as one languid arm wrapped around his neck guiding his head to her shoulder. Even in sleep she wanted him close, and if it wasn't for the doppelgänger of his brother watching him with a sneer, he would have smiled. Instead Damon swore his still heart clenched in fear.

_"Another notch on the bed post Damon, a pure innocent and virtuous Bennett no less. I'm proud of you, corrupting her so easily. Shame that it took for her to die for you to realize her beauty, and now, it's too late for you and her. I need her Damon and trust me, I will have her. I will enjoy breaking her down again, using her power, shredding every part of what makes her apart. Yet there is something about her that tells me she's going to change Salvatore – she's sacrificed so much for you all and she will do more before I am finished with you all."_

With every few words uttered Silas approached the bed and Damon reacted as best as he could given the way Bonnie held him, pulling her sleeping form to his, bringing her beneath his curled naked form. Cerulean hues locking on the cruel emerald ones he thanked himself silently that as much as it hurt him at first, he had been consuming vervain. His blood, his bourbon, everything he consumed had been mixed with the stuff. No one would be compelling him to harm anyone again, certainly not Bonnie. Damn it he'd fought to get her back, shed off the pain of losing her once and he wouldn't go there again.

_"You will not harm her again, you made your mess Silas a millennia or more ago with Qetsiyah and it's nothing to do with Bonnie. I swear I will find a way to destroy you if it's the last thing I do."_

There was something in the Immortal's eyes that chilled Damon to the core, Silas was all too calm, his sadistic ancestor was watching the little witch as though she were prey. A solitary arm held her in place to his side, there was a promise sworn silently even though Damon knew now that Silas could hear his thoughts, manipulate his every process of believing in himself. The doppelgänger of his own brother had entered the town and destroyed everything. Especially the life of Bonnie Bennett, his little witch. Damon's very humanity. Damon may have been an upgrade on the creature before him now in some respects but the more he learnt of Silas the more he was afraid of what was to come. Running his tongue across his lower lip, he slid from the bed.

_"Get out of my head Silas, stop playing with my thoughts, you think I wouldn't be aware of the little mind-fucks you are trying to do."_

Blindly finding his jeans, the denim shrugging over his hips, Damon moved out of the room ensuring Silas went with him. If the only way to protect Bonnie was to send her away he would even do that but for now, he would find out what Silas truly wanted. He wasn't naive or foolish, Damon was all too aware as he walked into his study that he was facing the one thing he didn't want. To save Bonnie, to give the woman he loved, he would sacrifice himself for her, he knew as Silas stood watching him that she would rip him apart for this. Yet what choice did he have? Love made you strong but it made you foolish, a lesson he had learnt in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Katherine had affected him in ways that he could never have imagined made him become the dark shadow of who he had hoped to be, which was one of the reasons Damon was fighting for Bonnie. Resting himself on the edge of the desk, Damon's eyes never left the immortal who was his brother's mirror image. It was scary to him that this creature was part of his blood line. Was evil and darkness interwoven into the Salvatore legacy? It would explain his Father's cruelty, his brother's ferocity when a Ripper and his own cold heart and refusal to see the good in anyone until Bonnie. Sighing softly, a glass of bourbon already poured and resting within shaking hands. Damon didn't care that Silas could see his fear, his utter desperate need to protect the woman he loved who lay in his bed dreaming hopefully rather than experiencing the nightmares he had seen her go through.

_"So what exactly do I have to do to get rid of you, it's bad enough I has to lose my brother to a watery grave with your theatrics and now you are playing with the woman who matters most to many around here. Hasn't she done enough? The girl gave up her life because of your mind games and now you want to control her like a puppet."_

Blue met green as the two men stared at one another and Silas began to laugh, cold and calculating at every utterance of still breath. His whole body was relaxed, clearly unused to anyone threatening him and surviving. Damon may have been afraid for Bonnie but he cared little for what Silas would do to him, he had been through Hell and survived in one form or another. As the silence between them became deafening and uncomfortable both men all too calm in their quiet stand off, the dawn so to speak before the battle between them.

_"It is simple, Stefan is to be locked away in the cellars of this house with no blood to feed him, no contact from anyone so that he is weakened and useless to all, I will not risk anyone seeing that __there are two of us. This is no game Damon, so do not start thinking my long rest as stone has made me a fool. Qetsiyah has to be raised to give me what I want, I had hoped to avoid raising my __friend, as you can well imagine she was angered when her love for me wasn't reciprocated but love is blind is it not?_ _I will have my love returned to me and you shall keep yours. For do you not know the true pain of loss, to have given your all for love only to be denied all you wish for."_

Damon froze, the idea of hurting his brother in such a way made his stomach churn, it reminded him of Klaus staking his siblings, to hurt them only to ensure their safety. Yet he knew Stefan was balancing on a knife edge, the turmoil he had everyday to not succumb to human blood and the Ripper was ever present. His little brother, the only person he has always loved was floundering and being locked up, denied the one thing that could keep him together would release the Ripper to the town the moment that cellar door was unlocked. What choice did he have though, he was torn between his brother and Bonnie. Silas had him in Hell, but Damon also knew that protecting Bonnie meant protecting the whole town if not more. Quite simply, he had no choice.

_"I agree on one condition. Bonnie walks away from this safely, you Silas are a warlock and an Immortal. You survive by taking blood as I do but I know in some respects you are stronger than I. I_

_know your pain trust me, I loved deeply, devoted everything to Katherine, and you know what happened because you stuck your interfering talents into my mind. Yet what I feel for Bonnie is greater than anything I have ever felt for her. I understand what it feels like to lose someone you love. Something that no one should go through but all most at one time in their life, no matter how long it lasts, so that they can find out what love is."_

Damon's arm rose as he offered his hand to Silas and as they shook, a deal was made that sealed the fate of those they both loved. Bonnie's life lay in the balance once more and Damon refused to let her be harmed. He would aid Silas, he would find the witches that were needed even travel to confront the King of New Orleans, Marcel Gerard himself if he had too and persuade him to aid him in such a battle as Damon now faced. As long as he could fight for her, not one hair on Miss Bonnie Bennett would be harmed. He would find Amara, do all that had to be done, and at the end of it enjoy watching Silas die. Ironic really that Silas wanted to die, and Damon would happily do it now, yet he was bound by time. Qetsiyah had them both stuck, and the witch was selfish enough albeit understandably, to want to make Silas suffer. After all, there was nothing quite like a scorned woman and her wrath.

The glass he had been drinking from returned to his lips and as the last dredges of the burning sweet Bourbon coursed down his throat, Damon realized he was alone once more. Silas was gone and with that absence, a sense of foreboding rested on Damon's broad shoulders. His eyes lifted to the ceiling and to the bedroom above, his preternatural senses focusing on the soft creak of oak floorboards. The creak of his bedroom door opening, and the soft heartbeat and delicate footsteps on the stairs alerting the vampire to the fact his lover had awoken without him and was searching for him. The very fact Bonnie was moving downstairs, drawn to the partially opened door of the room where he stood lost in thought, and that she wanted to be returned to his embrace gave him some hope. Damon could do this, he could show everyone once and for all that the last breath Bonnie Bennett had breathed out into the Quarry had been the one to truly open up his heart and let Damon become the man he had always wanted to be. The man in truth he had always been beneath the bravado that had kept him sane. He would give Silas what he wanted, protect Bonnie and the if all went to plan? Wreak havoc and pain on each and every person who had harmed, neglected or made Bonnie doubt herself. He would embrace the man and the monster within and make both to be accepted as who he was, Damon was done with people making excuses for him, forgiving him and not understanding him at all. Bonnie's love, her presence now was all he would want and need because she saw him, warts and all and accepted him.


	6. Chapter 6

-chapter six-

Damon watched over Bonnie, in the shadows and the open, no matter where she wanted to go, the vampire would be near. Standing in the partially furnished dorm room, blue eyes followed the small girl as she unpacked her case. Clothes filled drawers, were hung in a rainbow of colour in her closet and books, damn the girl had so many books, were in piles around the floor. Elena and Caroline were off doing God knows what somewhere far away from his Judgey which had been a blessing, he knew that even when she was smiling, her mind was elsewhere. Ever since they'd had Silas re-enter their world and laid down his ultimatum, Damon had seen a change in Bonnie, the haunted look in her eyes stayed with him long after she had slept. Shaken by the arguments she and Elena had had over the relationship that the little witch and he were slowly settling into, Bonnie would spend hours staring into space not knowing how to fix it. Then, once she had calmed her mind of the idea of her being happy and especially happy with him, and tried to find ways to resolve the trivial matter of friendship with the baby doppelgänger, she would look up at Damon with her haunted chartreuse eyes and utter a simple and yet unanswerable question of 'why'.

The 'why' being, why was Silas so determined to use Bonnie? Even after everything she had done and how much it had cost her, Silas refused to let her be.

The little witch had been unsettled and her magic unpredictable. To the degree that a gentle teasing of Damon to her when she had failed to light the candles in the room Damon had declared to be theirs as he refused to stay in her small room at home. The serious side of her situation wasn't lost on him though, Bonnie's magic was waning and Silas could use that to his advantage. Damon was well aware that the Immortal witch was fixated on Amara and restoring them to a contented paradise and if he became aware of of how weak she had become, how the Expression magic had taken it's toll on her. Then the battle they were already in would become one of manipulation as well as violence, a battle that Damon would ensure he won. Moving to circle his arms around her slender waist, the softest kiss he could give rested on the nape of her neck, whispering under his breath that she was his judgey, Damon prayed silently.

_"Really, you could just stay with me and I would compel all the professors of your literature course that you were there. Be easier and we could carry on deciding that kissing is far more fun than fighting..."_

Damon knew it was a waste of time but he had to try, Bonnie had become his most treasured and protected companion. He would aid the baby vamps that were sharing a room with Bonnie, but the witch was his main priority. Sliding the keys to her new Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 into her hands, Damon held onto her tightly. This was his way of persuading her to accept that the Bonnie Bennett of Mystic Falls High had indeed died that day, but the woman she was now, the one who happily held his hand with her head held high was grown, mature and deserved the best there was to be had. He knew she hated expensive things, and preferred the more practical things in life. After many circling conversations, Damon had got his way, he had justified the expense saying the car was one of the safest there was on the road and would therefore protect her. With the cold metal pressing into her palm, Damon took advantage of the situation, turning her into his body, strong fingers tightening around the slender curve of her waist. Finger tips being allowed to touch of her skin where the shirt she's borrowed from him rises up over her petite body. Slow circles are drawn over her hips in the utmost of languid rhythm, Damon has no desire to be away from here, even contemplating enrolling as a student here to watch over her. His witch had shot him down faster than he could move, her eyes had been fierce and his hunger for her rising at every increased octave of her lilting tone. There was no point in arguing with her, never had been, for when Bonnie Bennett was resolved to a matter, no one could stop or dissuade her and it had led to fights of epic proportions in the last few days when he'd made the fatal error of reminding her that she could die.

He could still feel the stinging slap across his jaw and how his neck had reverberated afterwards from the blow she had inflicted on him. It'd taken hours and a call to Rebekah to remind her that he had been broken when he'd discovered the truth. It was the strangest of situations that both Salvatore and Bennett found themselves in. Their allegiance and friendship with others was to be found to be stronger with those currently in New Orleans, and not those who had known and apparently loved them here in Virginia. Damon was aware that despite the strained atmosphere in the city of sin, debauchery beneath the good Catholicism façade, Rebekah was working with the notorious King of the City, Marcel Gerard. A man Damon himself had known in the forties when justifying why he led Charlotte a merry dance and relished in being the bad brother when Stefan and Lexi showed off the reformed Ripper of Monterey. Marcel and Damon had become friends, relishing in the pleasure to be found in the notorious Bourbon Street and equally so, Royal Street. The women who offered their 'wares' often being found months later in the dredge run of the Mississippi. I had loved the fact I could be free in New Orleans and how Marcel had protected the city he had known in both mortal and vampiric years. It helped to know someone who had that kind of leverage over the witches of New Orleans could aid in the unknown and upcoming battle the children of Mystic Falls were facing with their blinkered, rose tinted hues.

He wouldn't say it aloud, but Damon was aware that Bonnie had come back 'wrong' she wasn't the same. Not that he had expected her to be after dying, after seeing the true extent of what the Veil did to those who died. It scared him, and nothing had scared Damon Salvatore in so long, even when Jules had targeted him and Rose it hadn't been fear but anger that had invaded his veins. Bonnie refused to speak of the full extent of what she had seen, only that the intimidating and talented Sheila Bennett had been there to guide her and protect her. Something Damon was both thankful and relieved about has her beloved Grams had been one worthy of respect and admiration even if she had wanted a stake to find it's home quite regularly within the confines of the arterial wall of his heart. Holding her to him, the world itself seemed inconsequential and the fear dissipated to nothing but love and the simple need to have Bonnie here, a strong arm sweeping behind slender legs to lift her up gave him the perfect chance to hold her to his chest.

To breath in the many natural scents of the little witch as he carried her to the small bed, something Damon decided silently would be replaced for the biweekly sleepovers he planned to have. After all what was the point of a bed if you couldn't move? Lying down on the comforter, his Judgey held firm within his arms, Damon stared at the ceiling as the light and shadow altered signalling the change of day. His mind wandering despite the soft open kisses Bonnie was bestowing on his neck, earning her the tightening hold the signalled she wasn't to stop. Time was ticking by, and the phone call he needed still hadn't come. Rebekah had vowed to talk to Marcel, to learn of the many ways they could stop the weakening of the magic within the last remaining Bennett witch. There was no valid rhyme nor reason as to why she was fading magically, the witch who had restored her to the land of the living had repeatedly said she would be as she was destined to be. Bonnie Bennett like all female members of the Bennett line had their destiny laid out before them from the moment of conception. Bennetts born of the family of Salem and now Mystic Falls were witches. Powerful, beautiful and downright frustrating witches who loved it seemed to make Damon's head hurt in one way or another. If Aintza was wrong,Damon would be decorating the trees around the Boarding House with her entrails and removing her eyes with the sharpest of instruments he could find. The vibration in his back pocket finally signalling a call was coming through, and when the long fingers retrieved the phone a smile appeared. It was the call and not Stefan whining that Elena was wreaking havoc again.

_"Long time no contact my friend... Uh huh, yes. Yes she's here right now._

_No, now why exactly would I want her to do that – it hurts like a bitch and I have been everything but a condescending bastard to her for days. Oh... well when you put it like that hang on..."_

Placing the phone down on the bed, Damon took a deep breath knowing this would hurt as it always did.

_"I need you to pop a few of my brain cells, give me the aneurysm from Hell Judgey something worthy of a damn witchy award for magic. Think of just how much you hated me, think of everything I've ever done to you. Make me hurt, make me pay for all the fuck ups I have made over the years."_

Closing his eyes, Damon waited for the excruciating pain to rip through his cranium, to feel the arteries in his skull be torn apart and re-heal, only to be torn apart again. Bonnie's brain aneurysms were like nothing Damon had encountered leaving him crippled in pain on the floor begging for mercy. This time though, nothing came. Opening up his eyes, the concerned cobalt hues focused on her fearful verdigris eyes, her whole features were a mask of confusion and terror. There was no explanation for it that Damon wanted to admit to, the truth was he knew exactly what he thought had happened but the vampire wasn't foolish. He knew that Bonnie wouldn't cope with the truth. Wrapping a reassuring arm around the slender and defeated shoulders of Bonnie, Damon pulled her into him as his fingers curled around the phone at his hip drawing it to his ear.

_"Well as you could hear, I wasn't left screaming and cursing my girl to pieces, so I think it's safe to say that it's fading away._

_I don't understand... no. No I refuse to believe they abandoned her. Those selfish bitches wouldn't keep up with her anyway, jealousy breeds contempt after all._

_ So what do we do? Silas is everywhere we turn and really? I'm tempted to find out how many times an Immortal can have his neck snapped before he disappears. He's got a link with Stefan, and yes, he's manipulating it, baby brother can't remember anything at all. He's currently being forced to remember the first day of school take one thousand._ _Yes, Elena is playing Dr. Phil Rebekah, and I'm avoiding it at all costs. Never know, Stefan may suddenly recall he's the Ripper of Monterey and go off to play jigsaw with the Founding Families of the town, truth is, it's been a long time coming._

_So... back to little Judgey here what do we.._

_Right we're catching a flight out to Louis Armstrong? Fine by me. I'll, well we'll see you there."_

Wasting no time, Damon lifted Bonnie into his lap to hold her tightly to him, whispering reassuringly into the soft hair of his Judgey. How could he tell her what he thought was true, that Bonnie's death and then magical reincarnation had stripped her of the link she had to the four elements of the world, the Earth, the Fire, the Wind, and the Water all had abandoned her when that last breath had failed to come. He had one life to live, and Damon knew now that the woman he wanted to be there with him at every stage was the girl whose heart was slowly breaking apart at being incomplete. Vengeance burnt within his heart and soul for the fact she had become so vulnerable, had once more had to endure pain because of him, because of the selfish idiotic and naïve fools that had abandoned her the moment she had passed away. Never letting her down, Damon moved around the room, retrieving his wallet and car keys, time was of the essence if they were to meet with the King of New Orleans. Damon knew that Rebekah was taking a risk by associating with Marcel, given the delicate state of affairs with the King of New Orleans and the Mikaelson family. Deciding a note would be pointless, Damon stepped out into the cool Virginian air and carefully placed Bonnie into the passenger side of the car,restoring Bonnie or at least finding the answers they so desperately sought out had begun. A sound behind him made him turn, the tall and familiar figure of Stefan stood before him but the inane smile and strong arm around the neck of Sheriff Forbes told him otherwise as to whom he was facing.

Silas.

Groaning softly, Damon prayed the mask of indifference was in place at the sight of the Immortal witch. Whatever reason he had for being there, Damon had little desire to actually know. Whenever Silas was here, it meant the simplest of things to anyone near him. Carnage or destruction. Stepping slowly towards the Sheriff, her eyes widened in fear that seemed recumbent and almost calm in it's terror, Damon found himself eye to eye with Silas. Curling his fingers around the witch's arm he pulled it away easily and with an encouraging smile asked Liz to walk to the car. Each measured step she took past the two supernatural beings making her safe. Damon had the advantage of speed over Silas and both knew it if it came to it. Growling low in his throat, the deep-seated hatred Damon had for Silas surfacing in his every movement and look as they held their eyes on one another in a battle of silent wills. He knew what he was about to do could cause him to have his heart torn out or worse. Whatever Silas did couldn't be worse than what Damon had endured at the hand of Dr Whitmore for the group of men associated with Augustine, or at least he hoped not. Using his preternatural speed, Damon's hands were around Silas's neck. Crushing Silas's first rib with his thumb, finger curling tighter pushing against his trachea, tearing through ligament and bone. The satisfying sound of the snap of each piece of bone coming apart filled his hearing, Silas may not die from such an attack but there was something that was so gratifying about watching the immortal fall to the floor. His head lying at the level of the boots Damon wore. Temptation burned within him to bring the heavy boot down onto Silas's skull to hear the sound of the temporal bone splinter apart under the weight. Sadly, time was of the essence for both Bonnie and he, and the startled look of as well as the fear that resonated in the air around her, made him step back. Quickly calming Liz Forbes quietly he sent the Sheriff on her way, before settling into the Camaro with the witch.

The drive to Richmond and the flight thereafter to Louis Armstrong airport was fraught with tension, Bonnie lay curled into Damon's side for the vast majority of the trip, her voice painfully quiet when she spoke only once to say she was thankful he was there. His smile had been faint at that small declaration, because not too long ago, she would have wanted to have been as far from him as possible. Resting his head on the dark waves of hair that circled his girl's alluring features, his hand tightened automatically on her slender waist. The man who hid his emotions for the most part was unable to hide what was going through him now, letting his thoughts accumulate in his mind when Bonnie's breathing told him that she was finally sleeping. He had to speak to Marcel himself, to reassure himself that bringing one of the most extraordinary witches of several centuries would be a good idea, Damon knew that Marcel had declared that magic was to cease being practised within the confines of New Orleans but to save Bonnie's magic and the shreds of Expression that burnt within her, then magic would have to be used. There was no other way, Damon truly didn't care an iota for the witches of the Mississippian city but he knew Bonnie had too much of a conscience, with a heavy sigh and a stare that spoke volumes at the attendant who was slowly grating on his last nerve with her continual flutter of gold lashes, Damon retrieved his cell to find the number of the King of New Orleans. Each press of a number into the phone installed in the private jet Rebekah had provided for them both.

_"Marcel, it's Damon.. yes long time no talk but you know why I am calling. Yes, a Bennett witch. She's something else my friend as you will see. No, not like Davina but imagine a Bennett who hasn't been through the damn Harvest?_

_ Exactly._

_ So, Rebekah's told you the problem, it's fading away man, every day she's weaker and fuck knows if I can do anything to fix her. I need the Council, and yes I know I am asking a lot. _

_… Agnes? Really? That blinded fool is still alive? Well if it's her we have to deal with then so be it._

_The consequences and penance are all on me as always. Yes, I know what this is costing you and I am grateful for it Marcel, with Silas there I need all the help I can get for her. She's..."_

Feeling Bonnie stir in his arms, Damon ran his fingers through her hair to calm the witch once more, hoping Queen Mab would steal her away for a little longer into the lands of sleep.

_"Sorry, she woke.. she barely sleeps now. She's something else Marcel, a law unto herself and so damn gentle. You'll see for yourself in a short while. Cheers mate, we'll be at the Art District soon enough."_

Returning his full attention to Bonnie, Damon rolled his eyes at the large quantity of missed calls and texts he had accumulating on his cell from his brother and Elena. She was still under some pretence that he owed her something despite the blazing row they'd had when Bonnie's death had been discovered. According to her, it had been Bonnie's decision to sacrifice herself for 'the greater good'. Elena's comment had led to Damon coming far too close to ripping her heart out her spine, deciding that through her chest was just too simple. The doppelgänger owed her life to Caroline who'd persuaded Damon just as his hand reached for Elena, that Bonnie would kick his ass. Which was true, he may have had his eyes opened but little Judgey saw her as a friend and for her alone, Damon wouldn't kill her.

That didn't mean he would step in and save her again when fate once more came after her. The girl was a walking bad luck magnet.

Landing at the airport, Damon lifted Bonnie up into his arms, and with a smile that was as cold as ice at the attendant, made his way out to meet Rebekah, and was surprised to see Matt was at her side. Shrugging it off as to why the bus boy was there, Damon smiled slightly at the blonde Original all the while keeping Bonnie close to him. He felt as he had when carrying her frail form that was lifeless to the home of the witches, no one but he could be trusted with her. Settling into the car, Damon sighed heavily looking down at the witch who slept soundly in his arms, there was no denying she was growing weaker in her magic, and the strain of it was there for all to see. Brushing curls away from her lashes, he took the chance to just be happy that she was alive. That he had been given this second chance to be happy with someone who saw and accepted his flaws and weaknesses as well as his strengths and ability to be more. The one who had been the one to bring him to his knees with one thing now did the very same just by being her. He would do all he could for her, no matter the price.

Staring out the window ignoring everyone he was with, Damon saw the familiar roads and streets stretch out, leading to the art district of the city where Marcel had one of his many compounds, and if he recalled correctly was near to the where the witch Agnes had lived certainly in the late seventies when he'd visited the city last for a month of blood and debauchery. Oh how he would enjoy seeing her righteous self again, Marcel had made him promise last time not to rip her limb from limb from her smart mouth, this time? If she refused to help find the answer to how to fix Bonnie? Or at least confirm his suspicions as to why the witch was essentially becoming solely mortal, Damon would rip her vocal chords out, shortly followed by her beating heart.

The car slowed down before a vast warehouse and the casual, yet immaculate figure of Marcel cloaked by Thierry and Diego stood waiting. It was time for the fun to begin, and answers to be found as to what was going on with Bonnie Emily Bennett and how Damon could fix his little witch so she could be who she was, and have the destiny she was born into and lived continued.


End file.
